So without telling me, my dad went on craigslist to buy an iPhone and got scammed. He thought he was getting an unlocked white iPhone 4S and instead got an ATT locked iPhone 4 8gb and my whole family is on T mobile (facepalm). Anyways I have an old iPhone 4 that I kept as a backup phone with cracked screen, malfunction home button and broken proximity sensor.The only good thing about it is that I got it factory unlocked thru ATT in the early days when they were unlocking phones left and right. So if I swap out the logic board of the two phones, would the factory unlock transfer over to the newer white iPhone 4?
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Swapping out iPhone Logic board
- Thread starter Horse9118
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Just be careful as in some countries it is illegal to change the IMEI, they consider this like a car's VIN.
I'm pretty sure it can be done, I do not know at what level that logic board has been programmed. Back in my days in my engineering degree (CE in which I couldn't graduate), the boards were just simple c++ code that was embedded on the circuits programmed at factory. The OS then recognizes the board based on the program I/O instructions which the phone will recognized. Maybe a programmer in this forum can enlighten us.
I'm pretty sure it can be done, I do not know at what level that logic board has been programmed. Back in my days in my engineering degree (CE in which I couldn't graduate), the boards were just simple c++ code that was embedded on the circuits programmed at factory. The OS then recognizes the board based on the program I/O instructions which the phone will recognized. Maybe a programmer in this forum can enlighten us.
it can be done
it should just work, all iPhone parts connect to the logic board so what you'll do it's basically like using the white 4 for parts but technically and legally it will still be your old iPhone 4. It's doable and legal, I've done it in the past with an old iPhone 3G and it just worked, although the iPhone 4 is kinda hard to repair, the connectors are very small and fragile but if you're experienced with this kind of repairs then I'd definitely go for it. Good luck
it should just work, all iPhone parts connect to the logic board so what you'll do it's basically like using the white 4 for parts but technically and legally it will still be your old iPhone 4. It's doable and legal, I've done it in the past with an old iPhone 3G and it just worked, although the iPhone 4 is kinda hard to repair, the connectors are very small and fragile but if you're experienced with this kind of repairs then I'd definitely go for it. Good luck
Yup and it's pretty easy to do. Check out ifixit for details on removing a logic board. Then follow in reverse on how to put it back in. It's super easy IMO. Make sure when you're putting the logic board back in, that you lead with the top and kind of tuck it until the top of the frame. That way, when you put it down, all of the holes on the side should align and have a perfect fit. Not sure if ifixit mentions that.
Chester; yes true its illegal to change the imei #, but when they say change they aren't talking about swapping motherboards out technically your not changing the imei # of the board your putting the board in a different housing. Its illegal to change the imei by programming a new 1 in it